Grand finals aren’t anything new for Terry Daly.
He’s competed in the past two Northern Inland Premier League reserve grade deciders but Saturday will be his first as a coach.
Daly said the dynamic within the team wasn’t much different between just playing previously and throwing the coaching hat on this season.
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The main difference was the planning he now had to do. But Daly doesn’t mind. He’s loving his foray into senior coaching.
“It’s been good. It’s definitely got easier as the year went on,” Daly said.
“The team’s going really well and to be in the grand final again is a fantastic achievement.”
While this will be DK’s third grand final in as many years, they’ve only tasted defeat so far.
They went down to Tamworth FC in 2016 before being beaten by North Companions in 2017.
Daly said DK and Northies would another exciting chapter to their history on Saturday.
“Both sides are very good and have matched each other,” Daly said.
“Over the last two seasons, there’s been some good matches so we’re looking for a good performance from each player in the squad and that will give us a good opportunity to win.”
North Companions coach Gavin Thompson agreed there’d been some good, tough matches played between the sides.
He said both teams had quality across the park but DK had something extra in their corner.
“They’re going to be riding a wave of emotion having both teams in the grand finals and we’ll have to overcome that,” he said.
“They’re always tough competitors but I’m expecting them to go that extra yard.”
Thompson was confident Northies could overcome Demon Knights but also said he was wary of DK.
He also said North Companions had some “really good training sessions” during the week and that he had a tough call on his hands.
“My main problem is we have 19 players qualified. So the biggest decision is dropping players which is unfortunate. It’s not a good job,” Thompson said.
